Real-life experiences matter, especially in today’s social media-driven world where one good experience can make your business and one bad experience can break it. Simply put, people trust recommendations from friends and family more than they trust advertising by companies.

Word of mouth is a powerful way to boost sales, and social media presents the opportunity to multiply this person-to-person sharing exponentially.

The key to creating experiences that are worth sharing is to focus on engaging with your audience, rather than on adding followers.

Start by being present. It’s not enough to post glossy product pics or motivational quotes. Really listen to what your audience is saying. Respond to what you’re hearing. Be part of the conversation. Use social media as a customer service tool as well as a sales tool.

Give your audience something to talk about. Ask for feedback on packaging. Share behind-the-scenes glimpses. Invite them to name your next product. Query them about what they’d like to see next from you. Create a custom hashtag to tie the community together and give fans a way to talk to each other.

Add a charitable component. One of the best ways to inspire people to share is to do good. This type of consumer-driven charity is very powerful because it’s a win-win. When your customer buys from you, they know that they’ll be supporting an important cause at the same time. Run a campaign where you donate a percentage of your proceeds to a charitable organization you’re passionate about.

For word-of-mouth marketing to be successful, it’s got be authentic. So make sure that any shareable content you create or any interaction you have is genuine. It’s a two-way street. When you build your community this way, your social media followers become ambassadors for your brand, which is the best kind of marketing there is.

What’s the secret to building your own business? The short answer is there is no magic bullet. Rather success (or failure) hinges on numerous factors.

You’ve done your homework, evaluated your own strengths and weaknesses and found the industry that’s right for you. You’ve raised the capital, made the investment and hired the employees. You’ve opened your doors.

Here are some tips and techniques to take your enterprise to the next level:

1. Continually improve

Build your own business by building your skills. Make sure you know basic business acumen: how to read a balance sheet, how to create a financial statement, how to hire good employees and how to manage cash flow. If you don’t have these skills, or you could use a boost, take courses at your local college, continuing education center or online. A great online resource is Lynda, which is often available for free through your local library. Ask around!

2. Have a business plan

Write down your goals for sales, cash flow, debt and profits. Learn your market and do a financial projection. Decide where and how often to advertise. Plan, plan, plan!

3. Have a marketing plan

Marketing and promotion are essential to build your own business. Research opportunities to get the word out about your company. This can include ads in local media, giveaways at your location, sponsorship of Little League teams and many other opportunities.

4. Don’t forget social media

Social media is an increasingly important part of building brand recognition and driving sales. Make sure you incorporate a social media presence into your overall marketing plan. Define a message you want to promote on social media, and make sure your customers—and potential customers—can find you easily on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat (for younger audiences) and LinkedIn. And keep monitoring other social media platforms. It’s not hard to have a presence on any social medium, but you have to make sure it’s up to date.

5. Know your industry

It never hurts to know what the competition is doing. Join industry and local associations and read the websites and publications. Stay on top of developments so they don’t take you by surprise.

6. Focus on your customers

Ask for customer feedback and respond to it in a timely fashion, in every way possible—social media, surveys, contests and giveaways, and good, old-fashioned talking to people. Provide pricing incentives to encourage repeat business and referrals to new customers.

If you’re looking for a powerful marketing strategy that’s easy to do, look no further than personalization. Tailoring your messaging to individuals makes you very appealing to customers.

Here are three ways to do it.

First, personalize every communication. For example, go beyond using first names in email messages. Use the demographic information you have to offer specials or programs based on their individual information, like location or age.

Next, use social media to actually socialize. Don’t think of social media as a sales channel. Engage your customers and potential clients online through conversation, sharing and just being in touch. Nothing is more personal than receiving a direct response from a company. Talk to your audience about their concerns. Ask how you can help them achieve their goals. Solicit feedback about your products and services. This is a great way to interact one-on-one with people.

Finally, encourage your customers to use your app. If someone has your app on their phone, it’s important to them – or they wouldn’t have taken the time to download it. But people are busy, so it’s smart to re-engage those who may have abandoned the app. Send an email reminder to customers who haven’t used the app recently. Include a pop-up within the app that displays updates and new content. Use their first name and keep it casual, so you’re like a friend rather than a corporation.

Personalizing your messaging will help you engage with your audience – and turn them into a devoted fan base.

Is your business lost in a crowded marketplace? You may be overlooking something that could differentiate your business from all those other competitors: YOU. Personal branding can be a powerful marketing strategy for small businesses, allowing an entrepreneur to capitalize on personal expertise and know-how to attract customers.

Personal branding shouldn’t be the sole growth strategy for your business. But it fills a unique niche in an overall marketing plan, particularly if you have an aptitude for connecting with people via social media. The first step: get a social presence. Launch a Facebook page. Build a LinkedIn profile. Learn how to talk Twitter-style. But keep this in mind, cultivating a personal brand should never turn into a self-aggrandizing “look at how great I am” sales pitch. Also remember to aim for consistency in your online branding and your printed materials.

Personal branding should not consist of an effort to emulate those marketing campaigns crafted by large companies. Although Madison Avenue-style marketing attracts lots of social media followers, it lacks a personal connection that’s so important to cultivating a local, trusted persona.

So how do you stand apart from the crowd? Build a personal brand with a commitment to humility. (This is why we didn’t use a superhero for our photo.) Start with an attitude that readily acknowledges you are not a self-made success story. There are and were many people in your life who contributed to your business and helped your enterprise grow. Remember the neighboring businessman who gave you that first big break by referring you to a business-oriented network? And don’t forget about the customer who took the time to share the story of the excellent customer-service you provided in a time of need.

The next step is to envision what kind of brand best fits you. What effect do you typically have on others? Is it a calming influence or are you a live wire who crackles with energy when you enter a room full of people? Do you see yourself as a hero, or a humble servant? Remember your personal brand should be built upon your authentic self. Never try to foster a brand that is counter to your basic nature.

Above all, let others see your personal brand as you interact in your community, through high-quality printed materials, fun swag and consistent branding through all of your promotional collateral. Have fun with it, get out of your comfort zone and be willing to play up the part — zany, caring or flashy — as opportunity knocks. And definitely share your personal brand through social media channels. If you’ve always been one with a great sense of humor, you’ll find your personal brand may catch on like wildfire among your followers.

Have you ever heard of the concept of split testing? Sometimes it’s called “A/B testing. Either way, the idea is simple: you take two versions of a marketing element and test them both to see which one performs better. This powerful technique has been used for decades in traditional, offline marketing. In the virtual world, it’s even more effective — because it’s so easy and fast to see how your two options are working. And it can be as simple as ABC. Here’s how:

A great way to use A/B testing is for testing your headlines and titles. Did you know that most people, when following the news, don’t read past the headline? To find a blog title or email subject line or social media post that’ll always draw people in, you’ve got to test them. Tracking the variations post-publishing will give you indisputable evidence of which version is doing the best. That’s the one you use going forward.

Because Facebook ads are a relatively inexpensive form of advertising, you might be tempted to throw up ads haphazardly. But don’t do it. Don’t let even a single dollar go to waste. Facebook makes split testing your ads super easy, and you can really refine each test. Try creating two versions of the same ad — first with different headlines and then with different images. The resulting best performing ad will be a sure winner.

Creating trackable links is another way to do your A/B testing. This works on most social media platforms. Create a custom URL for each variation you’re trying out. With free services like Bit.ly, you can create a shortened link with a customized name so you know which version is getting the most clicks. Make it easy to tell which is which by adding “A” and “B” or something similar to the names. This makes it simple to determine which posts are the strongest.

The bottom line is that adding A/B testing does more than confirm your digital marketing decisions. It also gives you valuable insight into your audience’s mind — which benefits your offline marketing efforts, too!